When I was a kid I was already fascinated with data. I would leaf through the yellow pages and wonder how it helped people connect. I lived that dream and now it's no longer just about connecting, but searching and getting found. This blog is about my work as a "stitcher". There's so much we could do here at home and I am just plain happy whenever I manage to stitch people together.(Oh, BTW everything here is my personal opinion.)

Friday, July 27, 2007

I've been going around in the past few months talking about advertising on Google, but I've only been skimming on why it's important to have web presence. I've received quite a number of inquiries on how to go about it, so here are simple steps on how to create your own advertising campaign on Google. You can also more accurately learn how to go about advertising on Google through the Google Adwords Learning Center which has text and video tutorials. You can also browse through the Google Adwords Help Page.

Before signing up make sure you have defined who your target market is for the website or blog you wish to promote. This will make things a whole lot easier. I was quite messed up when I tried defining the market for my personal blog because I basically write about anything under the sun. And that lead me to create my other blogs (travel and wedding planning). But, I digress, so here are the steps on how to create an online marketing campaign.

Step 1. Sign-up for a Google Adwords account here. Make sure you click on "Start Now". You will then go through a guided tour on how to create a campaign. No worries, you will have to activate it before it starts running so you can just play around with it first before creating the real campaign (and you don't get charged unless your campaign is already active).

Step 2. Now let's assume you've already created your account and you left it off and after a few days or hours you're now ready to create an ad campaign.

Step 3. When you log-in to your Google Adwords account you will see this page. To create a campaign choose between "keyword targeted" or "site targeted". For beginners I recommend doing a "keyword targeted" campaign. Now you can rename "Campaign #1" to whatever you want (if you're going to do multiple websites I suggest naming it to "Website Name Campaign"). I just named mine "Campaign #1".

Step 4. Click on the campaign name and you will be brought to the page where you can create Ad Groups. Click on "Create New Ad Group".

Step 5. Now you will be brought to the "Create New Ad Group" set-up page. All you need to do is name the Ad Group. I named mine "New Media Marketing"

Step 6. Now you will be brought to the "Create an Ad" page. Just fill it up (and make sure you follow the editorial policy).

Step 7. Press continue when you are done with your ad's copy. You will then be asked to choose the keywords for your campaign. The page will have suggestions which you can easily add up to the keyword box and you can search for other keywords as well. Bare in mind that you don't really need loads and loads of keywords.

Step 8. When done, press continue and you will be brought to the page which will make you define how much your default CPC bid is. You can also click on the "Traffic Estimator" to find out the estimated traffic, rank and costs of your chosen keyword(s). You can also add and delete keywords through the "Edit Keyword List".

Step 9. You can then review and change the keywords and your bids when you press continue.

Step 10. Review your selection and then "Save the Ad Group". Your ad is now running (unless you pause it).

Easy isn't it? Come on! Try it now! If all else fails, let me know and I'll hook you up with a local Google Advertising Professional.

When Jay told me about Barangay.ph I became really curious. Why? Because my undergraduate thesis was about the Sangguniang Kabataan of Paranaque and my thesismates and I had to go to each of the 14 barangays to interview and get data from the SK heads. It was a crazy thing to do, but all the hardwork paid off since we got a gold medal for our thesis. Yehey!

Anyway, methinks the founders of Barangay.ph, Jonno and Nanette Alcaro, hit the Pinoys right on target by adhering to the grassroots, basic political unit of the Philippines - the barangay. The portal aims to be of service for Filipinos abroad and will provide information in things that are usually found in one's barangay like - real estate, schools, government services, directory, lifestyle info and you can even do a bit of shopping.

Monday, July 23, 2007

One of the most important things one must have in one’s website is to make the content easily searchable. You don’t need any fancy programming to do this, all you need is to install Google Custom Search. If you have a blog, you can easily integrate this as well. Just head over to Google Custom Search.

I was privileged to address almost 200 business owners for the Chinese-Filipino Business Club last week in Binondo. It is always a pleasure to spend time with SMEs and entrepreneurs since they have an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

So much education is still needed to bring all Philippine businesses online (I am hoping and praying for free wi-fi all over the country! Hehehe), but I am sure with staunch warriors such as Yehey.com and Jonas there would be significant growth in this arena in the internet industry. Now that’s a lot of good news.

So, let’s say you have a business and you’d like to put some presence online, what tools should you use:

(4) Be more interactive with your customers through blogging a. Blogger – create your blog/online business journal b. Picasa – share your photos free c. Youtube – need to show off your product through demos, upload those videos on Youtube d. Myspace – put up a Myspace page and use this for podcasts as well

Saturday, July 14, 2007

A lot of social networking sites abound on the internet. I have accounts in Friendster, Orkut, Multiply, Tagged, Facebook and a new account on Myspace. I remember someone on my LinkedIn account sent over a question on whether I was a member of other social networking sites as well and why.

Well, I told him that each site actually caters to different needs and niches. Friendster is THE place to be when you are Pinoy. Orkut is very popular in Latin America. Multiply is a website that has a lot of online commerce and quite a number use it for photos. Myspace is one of the largest in the whole world and has integrated rather interestingly selling of music online. I have a friend who said he's addicted to Facebook, and there's quite a lot of interesting concepts in that space. LinkedIn, for professional purposes. And then there's Tagged (don't ask me what's in it, I haven't opened my account there for quite a while).

I was forced to get an account in Multiply because a friend of mine was uploading photos in it and I wanted to leave a comment. So I signed-up, well, at least my blog is mirrored there and it allows me to be in touch with some friends. What was quite interesting was the business activity happening inside Multiply. Yes, BUSINESS ACTIVITY. There were quite a number of members selling their wares online. A lot were fashion accessories, some t-shirts and other fashion related stuff. Now, that's one way of practicing e-commerce. What caught my attention on Myspace was the ability of individuals to see their music online (so if you're a struggling artist, you don't really need a record label to sell your songs) and I thought I should go check it out as well.

A friend of mine based in Australia told me that Myspace was being utilized in the elections. I guess with about 3.6 million Australian members, that's a great way to reach voters. How come no one thought of doing that on Friendster last May? LOL.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

In the past two weeks I've been through a series of events in Cebu, Davao and Manila and CEOs, businessmen and people from different walks of life have asked me almost the same question -

What is the importance of putting your business online? How do we go about this? What is this blogging thingy?

If you're not online, where are you?

I've been involved in the online advertising business for about 7 years now and things have not been growing by leaps and bounds, but the interest is there. Appreciation for advertising online is now growing a bit. Businesses are recognizing the need to be searched online. Internet penetration in the Philippines is growing quite fast nowadays especially with the aggressive marketing stance the telcos are doing with their internet connectivity services.

How do we go about this?

I remember Dr. Ned Roberto saying in one of the DM Forums I attended years ago, that marketing will no longer be about mass marketing, but one-on-one marketing. With the many new ways to get information and the barrage of ways consumers get entertained, there is no one medium now that would allow you to reach the market fully. Find your niche, reach your target market... how? Be searchable!

How do you become searchable? The fastest and easiest way to do this on your own is to do a pay-per-click ad through Google Adwords. Yup, it is very easy and you can do it on your own. If it's rankings on search results you are after, then you are looking for a search engine optimizer.

Watch this video on Google and Brands -

Put your business online easily by using Google Apps for Your Domain. It's FREE! And all you need is a domain name. Sign-up and you're good to go in just a few minutes. Know more about Google Apps for Your Domain (and schools can definitely use this too!) through this video -

What is this Blogging Thingy?

I know sometimes I get so excited explaining what blogging is all about and my latest "victim" was SM Group of Companies Director Mr. Herbert Sy, the gracious host of the latest blogger event here in Manila. Blogging is basically a medium where individuals or companies can share their ideas/stories. The medium (which works as an online journal) may be used for personal or business use. Lately, quite a number of companies and PR agencies have been working with bloggers to gain attention and get feedback for their products and services.

Monday, July 02, 2007

The recent win of Benj Arriola, a Filipino based in San Diego, California, in the SEO World Championships has definitely put the Philippines in the search engine optimization/marketing outsourcing map. Seeing as well that quite a number of companies providing SEO services have sprouted across the nation – MBSTek in Manila, Syntactics and Harvest SEO in Cagayan de Oro, SEO Global Pro in Cebu and BHIPro in Davao, to name a few – goes to show that the industry is growing and that businesses are recognizing the need for SEO and PPC (pay-per-click) services. I have also met some people who have come to Philippines to teach SEO.

SEO Philippines founded by Marc Macalua started out as a mailing list (and has been a forum the past few months) and has done two major SEO contests in the past year and I was lucky enough to attend the launch and awarding ceremony of the “Ituloy Angsulong” contest. Marc has recently launched the much awaited “Bayanihan SEO Contest”. It’s where SEOs scramble to be found on the top ranks of the search engines, BUT with a twist. They have to do it bayanihan style, meaning as a group.

It would be interesting to see the outcome of this contest. I’m sure SEOs across the nation would be interested to join this contest – each region should have a representative group!

So does this mean that this growing segment will result in the Philippines becoming the SEO outsourcing capital in the world? Now this is good news :)